At first, “bathers” may sound like a summer one-off: paintings of people at the beach. But, as we’re reminded from the press release, bathers have lent themselves well to art history over the years, from Bonnard to Picasso. The show takes a contemporary approach to Modernist imagery, asking: What if Picasso had had an Instagram feed? That question will be answered by emerging painting stars and regulars on the Lower East Side: Nina Chanel Abney, Gina Beavers, Melissa Brown, Benjamin Degen, Austin Eddy, Ted Gahl, Hope Gangloff, Jackie Gendel, Daniel Heidkamp, Shara Hughes, Ryan Kitson, Ryan Schneider, and Ruby Sky Stiler.

Last chance for One Night Stands! This summer, Participant Inc has been hosting “The Gordon Kurtti Project,” a show and performance series honoring the young East Village artist Gordon Kurtti, who died in 1987 of AIDS-related complications. Kurtti’s friends and peers have been holding weekly performance evenings. “One Night Stands” have become a truly charged celebration of community, and a critical review of an art movement. Drag queen Linda Simpson hosts this week’s final evening. I can not recommend this highly enough.

Chelsea gallerinas Margaret Kross and Suzie Oppenheimer have taken over the Lower East Side gallery Toomer Labzda for the summer, and they’re pumping out as many shows as possible. We’re not sure what to expect from the upcoming group show “Hold the Floor” (Brian Michael Dunn, Dylan Hansen-Fliedner, Raphael Taylor, Mamie Tinkler), but we will recommend this simply based on the quality of their last show “End Times Girls’ Club.” Artist Rose Schlossberg imagined an end-of-the-world scenario, transforming the gallery into a bunker for girls– for example, rigging a field of potatoes with copper wires, to power a hair straightener. He he.

Thursday, a ton of shows will be opening in Chelsea, orbiting 25th and 26th streets. Don’t miss:

OPENING: THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ART WORLD, PART I: THE ONE-PERCENTERS
Freight + Volume, 530 West 24th Street
Basically, “THE DECLINE” invites us to grab a lobster roll and watch the empire crumble, with some of our favorite radicals: Karen Finley, Alex Gingrow, Michael Scoggins, Loren Munk, Jade Townsend, and William Powhida. If it’s the token political show, but whatever. We’ll be grumbling about the art world to the bloody end.

This year, forty-five lucky artists were the first to participate in a residency at Robert Rauschenberg’s home and studio. Find out what they’ve been making at “Fruits of Captiva” at the Rauschenberg Foundation project space.

In “Folklore,” a mix of street and gallery artists– including a few of “Beautiful Losers” fame Ed Templeton and Geoff McFetridge– use everyday materials and folklore to bring art into the public sphere. We’re all for that, but this rec comes with a grain of salt; in a show of sixteen people, curator Evan Hecox has included only one woman. Come on!

Summer ushers in many giant group shows, but rarely as unpredictable as at giants Gavin Brown and Venus Over Manhattan. Their latest collaboration “Made in Space”– curated by Peter Harkawik and Laura Owens–presents a mix of well-established and well-respected emerging artists from around the Los Angeles area, from early Conceptualist Allen Ruppersberg to emerging photographer Lucas Blalock. We’re guessing “Made in Space” relates to Southern California’s cultural vacuum; the press release provides a series of scenes, in various years, in LA malls and cars.

Also, Henry Codax, a fictional character from Bernadette Corporation’s novel Reena Spaulings (mentioned in last week’s reading list) will be having another show, presumably of large, monochrome canvases. The show builds on a several-year mystique now of art shows attributed to faceless characters. Ironically, the press release notes that this show removes the focus from the artist’s identity, because monochromes are blanks.

Those who haven’t yet made it to the latest reincarnation of the legendary Monkey Town need to get out to Eyebeam to see their screening. First hosted out of curator Montgomery Knott’s apartment in 2003, the venue quickly rose to fame thanks to several write ups in The New York Times. Since then, this on again-off again venue has featured live music, comedy, and a punk-rock approach to multi-channel art. Plus food.

Now in it’s third iteration, Monkey Town 3, features “cinema in the round,” with four screens surrounding a dining area playing a single curated film and video program every night. We’re recommending Friday because the evening includes a multi-course meal from Nacxi Gaxiola (ex-Pulqueria, La Superior).

Feminism lives, as A.I.R. Gallery reminds us once again. Resident Shanti Grumbine brings us an afternoon of readings by female Warrior Writers, an arts and writing group for military veterans: a community which, in the art world, remains virtually invisible.